Why Didnt Lastarza Fight The Following?

Pulev hasn’t beaten a live opponent since probably 2016 and only fought once in 2017 and 2018. The fact that he has any rating at all proves that no system of rating fighters is flawless. Again I repeat that getting a questionable draw against the true linear champion in a fight where he dropped that champion twice is better than getting positively @ss raped by Andy. Now we will see Wilder vs Fury 2 which I think will lend itself to more credibility than Joshua vs Pulev...

 

Sorry I didn’t think things were getting heated.. that’s cool

 

One thing rarely pointed out is that who was the alternative to LaStarza for an autumn 1953 shot? If not LaStarza, it would have been Ezzard Charles.

But if it were Charles who fought Marciano in September, 1953, he certainly would not have been matched with Valdes in August. But that was the fight which vaulted Valdes high into the ratings. His record to that point was unimposing. Nino had lost to all the name fighters he had fought prior to Agramonte, including four straight defeats from late 1952 into 1953. I think it very possible that w/o Charles Nino would not even have been able to get into the ratings that year instead of ending it ranked the top contender. The fight with Neuhaus was in play because Valdes was rated and had a scalp like Charles. Would Neuhaus have been interested in this fight otherwise? So w/o the Charles fight Valdes might have been forced to take a long, slow climb through the contenders to earn a high ranking, rather than jumping to the #4 spot with one win. Considering his frequent defeats, who knows how he would have fared.

Charles? He got his shot nine months later anyway. I can't see that he was really screwed.

So this seems like much to do about nothing. If Valdes got screwed at all, he got screwed later, not in 1953.

And why shouldn't the fighter ranked as the top contender by the folks doing the ranking at the time get a shot?

 

The discussion is often interesting, but the case against LaStarza as a challenger to Marciano comes up short, or much to do about little or nothing, except to note that it helps to be lucky and to have prudent managing.

The December ratings don't deal with my point about where Valdes would have been ranked if Charles had fought Marciano that September with Valdes thus not getting his chance to upset Charles in August.